Thomas G Reinecke

With virtually no change in the outcome of the 70th Assembly District race after two days of recounting votes, Republican primary candidate Thomas G. Reinecke on Friday dropped his challenge of the election results. "There's been no substantial gain (in votes), so we are not going to proceed," said Jim Bieber, a Reinecke campaign staffer who monitored the two-day recount at the registrar of voters office in Santa Ana. Before the recount began, Reinecke trailed Marilyn C.

With virtually no change in the outcome of the 70th Assembly District race after two days of recounting votes, Republican primary candidate Thomas G. Reinecke on Friday dropped his challenge of the election results. "There's been no substantial gain (in votes), so we are not going to proceed," said Jim Bieber, a Reinecke campaign staffer who monitored the two-day recount at the registrar of voters office in Santa Ana. Before the recount began, Reinecke trailed Marilyn C.

The second-place finisher in the Republican primary for the 70th Assembly District will get a recount of the 44,778 votes cast in the June 7 election, the registrar of voters office said Tuesday. Candidate Thomas G. Reinecke, who lost to Marilyn C. Brewer by 172 votes, will pay the $358-per-day fee for the recount to ensure no votes were mistakenly counted. The recount is scheduled to begin Thursday morning.

Misdemeanor charges were filed Monday against a San Clemente man who claimed he had AIDS when he allegedly spit in the eye of a 73-year-old woman protesting outside a rally for then-Gov. Bill Clinton. Prosecutors rejected a request by police that a felony charge of assault with intent to commit murder be filed against David Mazer, 45, saying there is no evidence that saliva can transmit the deadly human immunodeficiency virus.

A woman in Maine, explaining her absence from the voting booth said, "I don't vote--it only encourages them." Well, candidates, and the community, didn't get much encouragement in Orange County last Tuesday. Only three out of every 10 registered voters bothered to go to the polls. That's an all-time low in voter turnout. Whether the reason was apathy, disgust, disinterest, or whatever, it's a sorry lesson in civics.

The 70th Assembly District is some of the most solidly Republican territory to be found anywhere. When Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach) decided not to run again in the hopes of replacing Marian Bergeson in the state Senate, the question of succession inevitably focused on what kind of Republican representation the district would get. But that question, at least for those who are looking for the ultimate conservative, has not proven so easily decided.

What better day to express outrage against all taxes than on April 15, the deadline to mail federal and state income tax returns? And so for a while on Friday, local Republicans forgot that Gov. Pete Wilson had supported state tax increases in recent years and aimed their anger at President Clinton and his fellow Democrats. About 50 Republicans--about 10 of them candidates in the June 7 primary--lined Sunflower Avenue in front of the Santa Ana Main Post Office and rallied against tax increases.

The Orange County Republican Party on Wednesday admonished 70th Assembly District candidate Marilyn C. Brewer for claiming in a campaign mailer that she is the "only candidate in this race who has pledged not to accept" a recent legislative pay raise if she wins the seat. The Brewer campaign, however, stood by its statement and dismissed the "admonishment"--the least punitive finding that could be issued under the party's rules.

If money were the deciding factor in the tight race to succeed retiring county Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder, businesswoman Haydee V. Tillotson would lead the crowded field because of her own deep pockets. Tillotson, however, is not the only candidate in the June 7 primary who has relied on personal finances to become a serious contender for public office, according to campaign finance reports filed Thursday with the registrar of voters.

Misdemeanor assault charges were filed Monday against a San Clemente man who claimed that he had AIDS when he allegedly spat in the eye of a 73-year-old woman protesting outside a rally for then-Gov. Bill Clinton. Prosecutors rejected a request by police that a felony charge of assault with intent to commit murder be filed against David Mazer, 45, saying there is no evidence that saliva alone can transmit the deadly virus.

It doesn't come much closer than this. In a primary election where voter turnout hit a record low, only 10 votes separated the top two vote-getters in the Dana Point City Council election, and the fourth-place finisher missed winning a seat on the council by 43 votes, according to final election results released Tuesday by the Orange County registrar of voters. The new numbers did not change the outcome of any of the races in the June 7 primary.